Curtis Books

This book is great for beginners, covering natural history, terrarium construction, live food culture and individual species requirements. The very nice photographs make it a wish list for frog keepers.

This book has few pictures but good coverage on care for each type of frog. The author spends two chapters describing his expeditions to Panama and Fr. Guiana. He BRIEFLY discusses how to build and outfit a terrarium (vivarium), diseases and breeding. The last half of the book discusses each species individually. He gives a description, outlines distribution-habitat in the wild, lists optimum temperature and vivarium size, and gives detailed information on their breeding habits and care of tads. I would have liked more focus on caring for the frogs and less on breeding them and seeing them in the wild. Otherwise, good reference book.

I have read several books on dart frogs and the set-up of this is ideal for an intermediate frog owner as well as the beginner. Branching off sections on: genus, species, general care, food, temp. setting, cage set-up, and difficulty of captive care; you should be more than ready to start your first set-up( of course only with the suggested beginning frogs) or continue your knowledge of these beautiful creatures. I keep frogs myself and feel this book would be wise to read if you plan to care for any poison frog as long as their life span should be.

This book is hard to follow and confusing. It was required text for the class and did not match the NCLEX exam very well.

I was pleased with my purchase. I was hesitant on purchasing a
used book,but now I will definitely not think twice.

This textbook makes mental health nursing comprehensive and fun to learn. The concepts are well defined and there are lots of practice situations. It is easy to read and not too dry and boring. The CD was excellent for reviewing and studying and I would recommend this as a main textbook for mental health nursing.

This book completes (unfortunately with a predictable ending)Izzo's Marseille saga featuring Fabrizio Montale an ex-cop who reflects, drinks, and womanises a lot. Earlier volumes were harder to follow with their many characters not really described. Here there are fewer with many less twists and turns. He writes well but repetively. He is a one-trick pony, but it is a very good trick.

Either in this book or one of the other two in the trilogy, Izzo calls his beloved Marseilles the capital of the third world. It is a convincing monicker. In fact, the city itself is as important to his stories as any of the characters, who in turn convey the uniqueness of the place. I would unabashedly give Solea and the other two in the trilogy five stars, in appreciation for the lucid writing and the wonderful thought-snippets of the equally lucid protagonist. But Izzo's overabundance of characters is a problem. These books are whodunits, after all, and it's sometimes hard to follow the mystery because there are just so many people to keeps tabs on. I Think, Therefore Who Am I?

"Solea" is a fitting title for the third and final volume of Jean-Claude Izzo's "Marseilles Trilogy". Solea is a form of Flamenco music that tends to center around a melancholy self-examination of life, love and death. Readers who have already worked their way through Volumes I (Total Chaos (Marseilles Trilogy)) and II (Chourmo) of the Marseilles Trilogy know that food and music provide a powerful backdrop for the life of Fabio Montale, the `star' of the trilogy. So when Montale sits down and listens to Miles Davis perform Solea (from Davis' Sketches of Spain LP) at the beginning of the story I went online and listened to that performance and its haunting sounds stayed with me until I finished the book.

As Solea opens, Montale seems to have settled into his retirement from the Marseilles police force. He almost seems content, or at least as content as Montale is ever likely to be. But death has a way of finding a way to the door of those near to Montale and in short order Montale is tossed into crime and punishment Marseilles-style. It seems his former lover and long time friend Babette is on the run from organized crime. A reporter, she has dug up enough information about the mob and its dealings in Marseilles and throughout Europe, to warrant her being silenced. She has apparently managed to hide herself away and the mob decides to start killing Montale's friends until he agrees to find Babette, bring her back to Marseilles and turn over the incriminating data. The rest of the story takes us through Montale's search for Babette through a final confrontation with her stalkers.

The plot line itself may sound formulaic and even trite but in the hands of Jean-Claude Izzo it works remarkably well. By the time the reader gets to Solea (and I do think the books should be read in order to get the full value of the stories) he or she will have a pretty good feel for Montale and his friends and for the city of Marseilles. Montale, like his creator, is a creature of Marseilles. He was born and raised there and there seems no doubt that he will never leave it. As with the first two volumes the city comes alive; the sights, smells, and people of Marseille seem almost real from one page to the next. So yes, the story line does come across as a bit tried and true but its setting saves it. Izzo also has a habit of putting in a few extraneous characters that come in to and fade out of the story in a sometimes confusing way. But again, the character of Montale, the very real feeling of empathy one gets for him as the trilogy progresses makes the occasional dangling character or story line seem less bothersome.

All in all Solea is a fitting conclusion to the Marseilles Trilogy. As with any good series I was sorry to see it end. However, anyone who finishes Izzo's trilogy may want to have a look at the television series based on the book and starring Alain Delon. Fabio Montale

The Marseilles Trilogy was well worth the time invested in reading the three volumes. Highly recommended. L. Fleisig

I've said it once, I'll say it again...Jeanne Chall is to the field of reading what Frankl LLoyd Wright was to architecture. These authors were clever to attach her name to the text. Well written for everyday teachers and/or reading specialists. I also recommend as a supplement, Michael PRessley's Balanced Instruction.

Based on Jeanne Chall's stages of reading development, this program is designed to help adolescents overcome their reading deficits. Diagnostic Assessments of Reading is used for assessment. The entire program is broken down into four courses which target the student's word identification, vocabulary, comprehension, and study skills.

One is convinced of the program's efficacy. However, when everything about the program is outlined in 54 pages, one becomes aware that it is practically a show-and-tell without the show. In other words, the book tells you what is being done without showing you how it is being done. Not a program that is easily replicable, to say the least, but still worth emulating, if one has the knowledge and resources--and time.

Very informative for parents and educators looking for research based curriculum for older children.

This book was so wonderful that I have recommended it to several of my friends. It has clear and concise ways of setting goals, managing them and shooting for a dream. Recommended read for someone who is interested in planning their future with or without a current goal.

I never thought I needed this kind of book. I have always been a very hard worker and have accomplished a fair amount. But Curtis urged me to read it. Since I knew the author, I thought I ought to. I was surprised! It made a big difference in my life. I now am able to deal with my stress more effectively. My obstacles seem less overwhelming. My life is more balanced. My direction is clear. And my attitude is more positive. My life is much better.

I recommend this book to all. I also recommend that you meet Curtis. His passionate, humble spirit is contagious.

"CHAINSAW" aka Cole Hudson now has his story told.
Logan, Cole, Jackson and the rest of the Silver Bend Hot Shots are working in the Flathead Mountains of Montana.

It turns out that a childhood friend of Cole's, pilot Rachel Quinlan runs Fire Angels air tanker service. Cole hasn't seen Rachel in about eleven years.
Not since he gave an untimatum to Missy Quinlan, "leave with him or be left behind."

She married another man, Lyle Whitehall, the son of Eden's shyster Mayor. Lyle's father was also the bank president and held a note on the small Quinlan ranch and air strip.

Cole has been waiting eleven years for Missy to get in touch with him, but now receives a jolt when he bumps into Rachel.

Rachel and her co-pilot, Danny are in Montana helping the firefighters and they make one last dangerous run with the fire-smothering slurry. Only one gigantic evergreen gets in the way of the pull up.

From there on the story revolves around rescue and recovery and the bareing of some deeply held secrets. The discovery of a long lasting love. Of Cole finding Rachel raising Missy's son and daughter and taking care of her dad.

This is a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED set of stories of the Silver Bend Hot Shots, the courageous men and women who risk their lives for others to bring some gigantic fires under control.

I understand that Victoria's story in now in the makeing. I think her call name was "Queen".

BACK TO EDEN by Melinda Curtis
May 4, 2006


Amazon rating 4/5


"For those who have read EXPECTANT FATHER, BACK TO EDEN returns to the group of fire-fighting Hot Shots who spend months out of the year taking out huge blazes in Montana and neighboring states, risking their lives every day. Cole Hudson is one of them. While on duty, he rescues a woman, Rachel Quinlan. She was piloting a plane that was helping put out the fires, but it crashed. Her partner Danny dies, but Rachel survives in critical condition.

Rachel also happens to be Cole's childhood friend. She's the younger sister of his first and only love, his high school sweetheart Missy Quinlan. Missy married the mayor's son despite her love for Cole. What Cole doesn't know is that the one-night stand he and Missy shared just before her wedding to Lyle resulted in a daughter, Jenna. Missy died in a car accident five years before the story starts, and Rachel has kept the secret of Jenna's paternity. Another secret Rachel's been keeping is that she had a childhood crush on Cole which never went away. So when Cole offers to take care of her while she recuperates, Rachel panics." - Complete review at BookLoons - M. Lofton

BACK TO EDEN was an enjoyable Harlequin superromance with a lot of emotional drama. Part of a series of books focusing on the "Hot Shots", I liked this one a lot better than the previous novel. Recommended.

The first part of this book was mildly interesting for the anecdotes relating to Preston Sturges' fascinating early life & career(s). But as it proceeeds through his Hollywood period & beyond it gets thinner & vaguer. When it ended, I wasn't even sure what happened to Mr. Sturges, he just seemed to disappear & the book just stopped. Or was my edition missing a chapter?

An outstanding biography. Though concise, this is much better written than longer biographies of Preston Sturges. Curtis provides all the essentials, and does so in a well-structured and well-written style. Takes less time to read than the bios by Spoto and Jacobs, but the reader comes away with a much more vivid portrait of Sturges.

I want to buy this book how can I order , Now I live In Japan

I want to buy this book how can I order , Now I live In Japan

A major international conference on this subject was convened in 1993. It assembled virtually every significant surviving military and civilian decision maker from the USA, USSR/Russia, and Cuba: including our former SECDEF Robert McNamara and Presidential Advisor Arthur Schlesinger... Russian naval leaders and Nikita Khrushchev's son...and the Cuban officer in charge of their two batteries of nuclear-armed surface-to-surface coastal defense missiles. This gathering lasted for several days and was covered in separate 2 or 3 hour long broadcasts by every major television network in the United States. Their interview testimony and its briefly-availale transcripts provided new information dramatically different from official accounts of The Cuban Missile Crisis both before and [unfortunately] after this documentation. Military-industrial politics still controls "history" as it does the "news".

This book, really more of a booklet at 56 pages is the most complete that I've seen that describes the Navy's contribution to the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was originally written in 1993 and just reprinted after being very hard to get.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the major powers came to actual combat during the Cold War. While all of the services played their part (I can remember nuclear armed bombers parked at the end of Boston's Logan Airport's runways.) the main tasks fell on the Navy.

The pictures on this book show just how ready the Navy was. Pictures of planes in the air and on carriers show them fully armed with rockets and bombs.

Only at the end of the crisis did the tensions go down. And in one point a Navy helicopter lowered a Navy tie clasp to the Russian freighter 'Alapayevsk.' The Russians returned with a gift of a bottle of vodka.

I also remember discussions that we should invade Cuba. Only since the end of the Cold War have we learned that the Russian military forces on the island had short range nuclear weapons and were prepared to use them. Phew! That was close. Closer than we got again.

Great character development; fast reading with suspenseful plot. Highly recommended, especially if you've ever lived or visited Romania and Eastern Europe!

I can really recommend Crossing Borders, and I thank Suzi Curtis for the great entertainment that Caroline Winslow's adventures provided to me, sometimes making me wonder which parts were based on the author's personal experience! It made fascinating reading, perhaps more so as I have spent some time in Rumania and have lived in Central Europe for several years and thus understand some of the issues revealed in the book.

Without wishing to spoil the surprise for others, I became very involved in the book as the plot unfolded. In fact so engrossed that I found I couldn't put it down, reading Crossing Borders cover to cover in one sitting, as it very much brightened up a dull winter's day whilst I was crossing the Bay of Biscay on a ferry.